The Parish Church of St. John The Baptist

On the left bank of the Kennet below Marlborough is the interesting church of Mildenhall (pronounced "Mynal"). The building itself is almost entirely of the twelfth/thirteenth centuries and shows a number of details of the period, especially in the tower and nave arcades. But the grat delight of the church is its interior furnishing, brought in during the years 1815-16 and entirely Regency "Gothick" in style. The whole of this has survived, and comprises the box pews, a west gallery, a pulpit and lectern, a panelled and pewed chancel complete with reredos, and a font with its cover. A treasure to any county.

Built mostly of rubble with some brick and ashlar, has a chancel an aisled and clerestoried nave with a south porch, and a west tower. The chancel and the nave were rebuilt in the late 12th century, but the arcades, of which the south arcade is the earlier, probably follow the lines of earlier walls. The tower arch was probably added soon after that rebuilding and windows in the middle and lower stages of the tower, which have an 11th century character, may also be 12th century. In the 13th century the west doorway and a lancet window in the south aisle were inserted, but most of the windows are of the 15th and early 16th centuries. The top storey of the tower, the clerestory, and the nave roof date from the late middle ages. In the early 17th century the nave roof was embellished with pendants and ceiled, and about the same time the coved and panelled chancel ceiling was made. Much medieval glass was destroyed during the civil war. The late 18th century altar rails may be contemporary with the leather kneelers in 1796. The church was restored in 1814-16 when a large window was inserted in the south clerestory and the south porch was rebuilt. The nave and aisles were refurbished in a late Georgian Gothic style with box pews, a west gallery. and pulpit balanced by a reading desk, all of oak .Further restoration took place in 1871, 1949 and 1982.

Baptisms

Burials

Parish Registers held at WSHC

Parish History

(Minal) is 1.5 miles from Marlborough, 9.5 miles from Hungerford, and 70 Miles from London. The parish lies north and south of the river Kennet. Tithings to the parish are Poulton and Stitchcombe. In 1377 there were 72 poll tax payers in Mildenhall, 8 in Poulton and 42 in Stitchcombe.

In the early 18th century and in the 20th century there were three small settlements in the tithing. Stichcombe and Poulton being two of the three.

Civil Registration

1837 - Present Marlborough Registration District

Buildings and Land

Mildenhall House, a former rectory house built in the village in 1860's. The sites of Mere Farm and Grove Farm have been in use since 16th century or earlier. Warren farm was established in the 19th century and Mildenhall farm in the 20th. It is part of the Selkley hundred. There is evidence of pre -Roman activity in the parish, apart from several barrows and scattered artifacts, is a cemetery, possibly a war cemetery, of the early Iron Age. The site of a smaller Roman settlement has been found on the former Folly Farm.

A section of the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway was built across the parish near the river Og and was opened in 1881. The line was closed to passengers in 1961 and for freight in 1964.

Maps

Public Houses

The Horse Shoe

This was a beerhouse in the mid 19th century. Older Settlement sites east of the village include those of Durnsford Mill and Lucky Lane, a former farmhouse. Of the outlying farmsteads the earliest was at or near the modern Woodlands Farm. There was probably a farmstead at Woodlands in the 15th century, and in the 16th century tenants of the Mildenhall manor lived there. In the late 17th and early 18th century the lord of the Manor had a house there.

Many of the cottages date from the later 19th century and were probalby built in the 1860's when new building attracted new reisdents to the village. In the 20th century council houses were built east of the junction of the Ramsbury - Marlborough road and the Roman road to Cirencester, and private houses were built to the west end of the village. Infilling included council houses south of the village hall.

Crime and Legal Matters

Directories

Education

In 1808 some fourteen children attended a school kept by a poor woman in Mildenhall. The school had been shut by 1818, then the only form of education was Sunday schools and catechizing.

In that year however Charles Francis, the rector, gave land and in 1821 he bequeathed £4,000 for a school. Half the money was invested and half used to build the school and a teachers house designed by Robert Abraham and completed in 1824. The building in perpendicular style, has a two storey octagonal central block and a lantern roof. From alternate sides radiate single storeyed wings, two of which were used as schoolrooms. The income from the investment £100 in 1858 was used to pay a master and a mistress and for the general expenses of the school. There were 28 pupils in 1833 and numbers rose to 60 and 70 in the late 19th century. By 1873 the central area of the of the school had been extended into additional classrooms, and in 1898 one of the original classrooms was enlarged. In 1906 the average attendance was 70. Numbers flutuate between 50 and 75 until 1938 when they stood at 40. The school closed in 1969.

Family Notices

Parish Notables

Personal Research Items

Tuck Family Research Burial Extracts - This item was donated by Ken Tuck and contains entries that may or may not relate to the Tuck family however they have been published as such. Many refer to Quaker burials found across the county

Acknowledgements

Poulton

Poulton

Was one of the smallest and poorest tithings in Wiltshire. In the 18th century the hamlet consisted of two farmsteads, later called Poulton House and Poulton farm. Poulton farm then known as Little Poulton was rebuilt in the 19th century. There were 29 inhabitants of the hamlet in 1841, numbers may have increased in the late 19th and early 20th century when several cottages were built east of the Poulton - Aldbourne road.

Stitchcombe

Stitchcombe

This attractive tiny hamlet lies some 3 miles east of Marlborough on the River Kennet. The hamlet boasts a Manor house and a few houses. Until the 1920's Werg Mill in the hamlet was still in operation. The mill was situated 500 metres east of Mildenhall Parish church Folly, later Forest Hill farm. Cottages were built near the northern end of Cock-a-troop Lane in the late 18th century and the 19th. Stitchcombe Mill, only part of which remains. On the steep slopes of the mill is Stitchcombe House, a farmhouse mainly in the 19th century. 1841 population was 127.

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